Saturday, February 22, 2014

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Fudge Core Ice Cream

[New for 2014] After seeing 20 or so new products on Thursday in just one store, I think it's safe to say that the 2014 ice cream season has officially kicked off. The question is where do we start? Well, Nick already let us know that the Ben & Jerry's Core lineup is making a triumphant return* during his Karamel Sutra Core review, but which new flavor to choose first? Ahhhh, you know I love chocolate and peanut butter, let's do this!

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Fudge Core

Chocolate & Peanut Butter ice creams with mini peanut butter cups

and a peanut butter fudge core

Yeah, peanut butter fudge.... how glorious does that sound?

I'll try not to eat it in one serving... how could this go wrong?

I try the chocolate first, that's fine. I aim for these new mini peanut butter cups, yup, those are jut fine too. I try the peanut butter ice cream next. It's still good, though it's weird eating it without fluff or anything else. That just leaves the core. Oh the anticipation, the excitement, the slow motion scooping of...

Oh my word, what in the world is this stuff, it's terrible. I was in denial for the first few bites, but this core is just awful. Sorry B&J, not sure what went wrong here, but this is so unexpected. I don't get it, I really don't. Going all natural(ish) can lead to more unique flavors and textures, but this is just not amusing on any level. It's not sweet, or peanut-y, or anything else, it just tastes awful.... so I started eating around it.

The good news is there are plenty of positives here. While not visible at first, the mini pb cups are indeed on both sides of the pint which helps spice up both base ice creams. Oh, and there appears to be about a gazillion of them. The fact is, this ice cream would get an easy re-buy if it wasn't for that silly core.

That's all I got on this one. I'll re-scoop on Monday, maybe the core won't shock me as much then.

Verdict? Everything is fine except the core!Buy Again? if I really needed a pb cup fix

P.S.S.S. Just had a flash back to Ben & Jerry's Flipped Out! sundae cups... they too had a really weird peanut butter fudge on them that made me really dislike them. I'm thinking that same fudge might be back again!

On Second Scoop: Yeah, everything about this ice cream is just fine except that silly, strange core. I guess the question will be if you can overlook the core enough to repurchase the rest of it. I know some will, even I would be tempted to buy this again to get an abundance of those mini pb cups in that peanut butter ice cream.

*Note: many "news" sites seem to be ignoring the fact that the core idea came out in 2002 as "Core Concoctions". Karamel Sutra has been made ever since, though it's companions "Peanut Butter Me Up" and "Fudge Central" have long since been forgotten by most.

I have tasted this one, the caramel one, and the hazelnut one. There is nothing wrong with any of them. In fact, they are all very good. I highly recommend you buy a pint and decide for yourselves. This blog also claimed that there was something wrong with Scotchy Scotch Scotch, and that has not been the consensus on that flavor.

please call me Dubba, and not "this blog". As I've said with many flavors, including SSS, any flavor has a fan base, if it didn't, they wouldn't make it. Everyone's opinions are always welcome here, but that's all they are, including mine, just opinions.

I'm a bit unhappy with B&J since they discontinued Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler, so I'm mainly scooping Haagen-Dasz these days. Out of the new core flavors I'm only interested in trying the hazelnut and the raspberry.

On the website they actually have the nerve to list Karamel Sutra as a new flavor now, which is a bit daft

I just tried the Salted Caramel Core and the core was the only decent part. The blondie 'chunks' were tiny little things, the ice cream itself, blah. The the core was very thick and salty, so in my case I was tempted to just eat the core. B&J is no longer in my top tier of ice cream choices.

To mess up peanut butter and chocolate is pretty hard to do, so I was shocked when reading your review. Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup is my favorite flavor by them, but I wish they would make a simple peanut butter flavor with nothing else mixed in because I prefer just the plain base.

Oh no its a shame that this wasn't great! We've just got something similar in the UK called All or Nutting but the peanut has been subbed for hazelnut, so chocolate ice cream + hazelnut ice cream + chocolate hazelnut fudge core and it's phenomenal!

I ate around the core too...it is really awful. The mini peanut butter cups are quite nice though. They are the same sort used in Truffle Trifecta. They hold together well and they have a nice crispy thin shell, more like well-tempered chocolate than the fudgy, greasy chocolate that is often used.

I've tried all the core flavors so far and I only liked the Peanut Butter Fudge one! Hazed and Confused was edible but bland. Definitely NOT anything like Nutella! And the Salted Caramel and That's My Jam were horrible! I loved the core of the peanut butter one- tasted like those chocolate peanut butters you find at the store.

hi :) i agree with the author(dubba :)), the peanut butter core didn't taste anything like peanut butter, and the closest i can think to describe it as, is "burnt"...

ben & jerry's always discontinues my favorite flavors ("holy cannoli," anyone? ricotta based if i'm not to be mistaken, and never to be confused with 2013/4 "cannoli" with mascarpone and only small and sparse "chunks"! :)) and i haven't been liking what they've been doing for a while :(

i hope they at least NEVER discontinue Boston Cream Pie! for me, it's ~divine~ and there's nothing else like it!

Wow, I guess I'm in the minority here. Loved this ice cream, thought it was even better than Peanut Butter World. Admittedly, the core I thought was the worst part, and even that I thought was rich and fudgy. Was not disappointed at all with this one, was excellent.